New project car: 1999 Ford Escort ZX2

[exar333]

No...

Agreed.

This (along with the SVT Contour) were two great cars Ford released in the 90s. A good friend of mine got a red 99 ZX2 new and loved it. It was rock-solid reliable and pretty sporty. It was very much like getting a Honda back then, similar power and performance vs. Civic for a lot less $$$.

The 5spd transmission was excellent too.

 

[Kaido]

Serious question, isn't this thing a total piece of crap?

Yes and no. It's 14 years old, has 150k miles, and needs some TLC. But it's way fun to drive. 2500 pounds, 130 horsepower, 5-speed, clutch is good, brakes are good, road noise is somewhat high but the ride is comfortable. Visibility is great and I can hit freeway speeds pretty dang quick.

I was kinda-sorta looking at a Miata, which I thought were pretty sissy until I learned how much fun they were to drive, but then this fell into my lap, and while it's a bit bigger and about 30 less horsepower, it's the same basic concept - a fun little go-kart. Definitely fun to drive to work in :thumbsup:

 

[Kaido]

Careful what fuel system cleaner they try to sell you. They could be throwing in some 5 dollar lucas and charging you 50 bucks...

The only fuel injection cleaner that I like to use is the two stage B&G fuel system cleaner. You can buy it on ebay and do it yourself. Buy a five pack they are worth it.


Start by cleaning and eliminating and isolating your issues.

Is that all they do for the EFI service? The fuel system cleanout is just some juice you throw in? Never had to do it before so I don't know what's total BS & what's required.

The check engine light came on again. I really need to pick up that OBD-II reader haha.

 

[Kaido]

Tires & spark plugs are on the list for this weekend. I filled up the tire with the slow leak from the embedded nail in it today, it was at 15 PSI I'm not going to bother patching it since the tires are pretty bald and new ones are like $70 a pop. Yay for cheap, small, standard tires

 

[Centauri]

http://www.auto-rx.com

Add some to your new oil and run it as directed. It's the only additive on the market that actually does work wonders and does it without abrasion. Investigate it.

 

[Kaido]

Having a weird clutch issue.

Shifting has been silky-smooth up until 3 days ago. For 2 days straight, it felt like there was a bar shifting into 3rd gear. Sometimes I could pop it through and sometimes I'd just have to skip it, then later it'd go back to working. Then yesterday & today, it's all of the gears randomly, including reverse. Sometimes it's fine and sometimes first or fourth or whatever won't let me shift into it. Do I need a new clutch?

 

[phucheneh]

If hydraulic clutch, try bleeding. If cable clutch, adjust the cable, if possible. Doubtful that you actually need a clutch, since having trouble getting into gear is a symptom of the clutch not fully disengaging. Which COULD be a pressure plate issue, but a dying clutch is much more likely to just start slipping.

Could also be a shifter issue. If there is a 'pivot ball' kind of deal at its base, that could be getting worn and sloppy. Or there is some other linkage issue.

Looks like that shifter uses a linkage with solid bars (no cables). I would be willing to bet a rubber bushing ejected itself. They will start to get mushy and ripped but often not present very noticeable symptoms. Then one day, they just decide they've had enough and the whole bushing, or at least a decent bit of it, decides it doesn't want to be a part of your car anymore.

 

[Kaido]

If hydraulic clutch, try bleeding. If cable clutch, adjust the cable, if possible. Doubtful that you actually need a clutch, since having trouble getting into gear is a symptom of the clutch not fully disengaging. Which COULD be a pressure plate issue, but a dying clutch is much more likely to just start slipping.

Could also be a shifter issue. If there is a 'pivot ball' kind of deal at its base, that could be getting worn and sloppy. Or there is some other linkage issue.

Looks like that shifter uses a linkage with solid bars (no cables). I would be willing to bet a rubber bushing ejected itself. They will start to get mushy and ripped but often not present very noticeable symptoms. Then one day, they just decide they've had enough and the whole bushing, or at least a decent bit of it, decides it doesn't want to be a part of your car anymore.

Been reading up:

http://teamzx2.com/threads/31206-Manual-Transmission-won-t-shift-into-2nd-4th-or-Reverse

shift linkage bushings. this has happened to me twice, the first time i tore the trans apart for no reason other than to find out it was the little bushings in the shift linkages that are easily accessible without taking the trans out.

check the bushings. i've blown 6 diffs...they've never caused the detent plate to jam up. each of those gears has it's own slot...how could just those three (which happen to use the same linear motion on the bushing i mentioned) be affected and the others not. coincidence? i think you'll find it's not the case. replace the diff, sounds like it needs it...but also replace that bushing. i'd hate for you to rebuild a trans only to still have the problem you had before.

 

[QueBert]

Your triple back up camera interests me, how exactly would that work off 1 monitor though? I have a 7" Pioneer and a wide angle plate cam, but I can't see for shit on the sides. Are you taking about feeding all 3 cameras into 1 screen? I like it

 

[phucheneh]

The guy that has blown up six differentials should probably stop driving...

There are a lot of purported common weak/problematic diffs in FWD cars...on internet forums...yet you never hear of it from people who just normally daily drive the same cars. Conclusion: quite sidestepping the clutch, you asstards. Commonly asstards of the 'VW' variety...

Linkage bushings are much more common...but similar. I drove a VW for years with no issue...let a friend drive it once...shifter didn't work anymore. It pooped out a slightly critical rubber ball near the trans. I cursed his ham-fisted-ness, but chalked it up to 'it was bound to happen, eventually.' That's the positive of the make/model-specific forums...they WILL find the weak points of the car in question, heh.

 

[jlee]

How do you blow a diff on a FWD car with street tires!? The diff hardly has to do anything at all...

 

[phucheneh]

Shock. Even if the tires do nothing but spin, the initial rapid loading that would occur right before said spinning tires can be pretty hard on it. Especially if there's already wear that results in there being a little extra 'take-up' in some of the parts.

The 4cyl VW's had the ring gear riveted to the carrier, and people would somehow manage to sheer the rivets with their <125hp 2.0L.

 

[jlee]

That's a pretty shitty diff...

I guess I'm spoiled. You can pull an MR2's front end off the ground with the stock trans/diff.

 

[Kaido]

Your triple back up camera interests me, how exactly would that work off 1 monitor though? I have a 7" Pioneer and a wide angle plate cam, but I can't see for shit on the sides. Are you taking about feeding all 3 cameras into 1 screen? I like it

There's a couple different ways of doing it. For starters, you can split the video to both an external monitor and to the DVR by using a standard RCA splitter cable, so that way you get eyes-on plus a recording. From there, it's up to you how to do it. DX sells a variety of small monitors from 3" on up for very cheap (like under $30), so you could mount them on the left & right of the steering wheel, in the dashboard via stereo receiver, or even get one built into the rearview mirror. One option is to line them up in a hood sort of like the instrument cluster, so one glance gives you access to all views. If you have a single large monitor, you can get a video mixer with quad mode & PIP for displaying multiple cameras on one display:

http://www.ambery.com/pivipr.html

Land Rover has a pretty fancy one in their SUV's:

http://images.thecarconnection.com/...land-rover-range-rover-evoque_100365712_m.jpg

 

[Kaido]

If hydraulic clutch, try bleeding. If cable clutch, adjust the cable, if possible. Doubtful that you actually need a clutch, since having trouble getting into gear is a symptom of the clutch not fully disengaging. Which COULD be a pressure plate issue, but a dying clutch is much more likely to just start slipping.

Could also be a shifter issue. If there is a 'pivot ball' kind of deal at its base, that could be getting worn and sloppy. Or there is some other linkage issue.

Looks like that shifter uses a linkage with solid bars (no cables). I would be willing to bet a rubber bushing ejected itself. They will start to get mushy and ripped but often not present very noticeable symptoms. Then one day, they just decide they've had enough and the whole bushing, or at least a decent bit of it, decides it doesn't want to be a part of your car anymore.

Yeah, it's a hydraulic clutch according to a quick online search. For the first couple of days, it felt like there was a bar in 3rd gear that I would hit - I would shift into third and about 70% of the way in, it just wouldn't go anymore. If I pressed the clutch down again, sometimes it would fix itself and let me shift into third, or else I'd just skip it and go into 4th and later on it would resolve itself. After 2 days of that it was okay, and then all of a sudden it was all of the gears randomly.

I'm going to park it until I resolve this issue, too nervous about it going out completely on me on the highway or something. My Bluetooth OBD-II scanner for Torque Pro arrived too, so I'll pop that in tomorrow, although I doubt it will tell me anything about the shifting issue. I'm thinking it's something in the shifter itself, since the engine isn't slipping or having any other issues, and the clutch itself doesn't feel like it has any problems - it just sort of feels like a piece of metal fell into the shifter assembly and is dancing around there, blocking different gears. I also haven't had any issues with it stalling since the speed sensor was replaced.

 

[nerp]

Funny, I drove an 88 Escort GT long, long ago when I got my license and lusted after the ZX2 when it came out. I remember thinking it would be so nice and modern compared to my older GT. God, how times have changed.

 

[nerp]

And remember that commercial of the two girls eluding the creepy guys in the city with their ZX2?

 

[Kaido]

Funny, I drove an 88 Escort GT long, long ago when I got my license and lusted after the ZX2 when it came out. I remember thinking it would be so nice and modern compared to my older GT. how times have changed.

Really, how they have - I took my buddy's new 100% electric Honda car out for a spin this weekend. No noise, no lag, no shift jerk, no gas. Most amazing car I've ever driven. Makes my wife's 2013 gas-powered Civic look like antiquated technology :biggrin:

 

[Kaido]

My buddy is thinking it's the clutch slave cylinder, so I'll be checking for leaks today. It sounds similar to what other people have experienced:

http://teamzx2.com/threads/30006-Bad-slave-cylinder

The Bluetooth OBD-II scanner arrived, so I'll get that installed tonight & see what the check engine light is telling me. Hopefully something related to shifting, but I doubt it haha.

 

[Kaido]

Another one on the shift linkage, he fixed it with stainless steel washers:

http://zx2ms.com/index.php?topic=2057.0

And another guys with exactly the same problem, resolved by the shift linkage:

http://zx2ms.com/index.php/topic,2052.msg18458.html#msg18458

 

[slag]

I don't understand buying larger rims that necessitate larger (more expensive) tires on a commuter car. Stick with the 14's. Replacement rubber is a lot cheaper for a 14 inch tire vs a 17 inch tire and this isn't a performance vehicle, its a daily commuter car. It's supposed to take door dings, curb rubbings, bird shit, and generally look like a POS that people won't bother with but that is reliable enough to drive anywhere.

 

[Kaido]

I don't understand buying larger rims that necessitate larger (more expensive) tires on a commuter car. Stick with the 14's. Replacement rubber is a lot cheaper for a 14 inch tire vs a 17 inch tire and this isn't a performance vehicle, its a daily commuter car. It's supposed to take door dings, curb rubbings, bird poop, and generally look like a POS that people won't bother with but that is reliable enough to drive anywhere.

OEM is both 14" and 15", depending on which wheel set you got from factory. Price is more or less the same either way. The main reason I want 15" tires is to fill in the wheel well a little better for aesthetic purposes. I think it's about $4 extra per tire, and I wanted some nicer rims than the existing lawnmower-esqe ones anyway :biggrin:

 

[slag]

OEM is both 14" and 15", depending on which wheel set you got from factory. Price is more or less the same either way. The main reason I want 15" tires is to fill in the wheel well a little better for aesthetic purposes. I think it's about $4 extra per tire, and I wanted some nicer rims than the existing lawnmower-esqe ones anyway :biggrin:

I read your post as it came with either 14s or 15s and wanted to go larger than that.. Next logical step up would be 17s or 18s and the price per tire shoots up tremendously for decent tires going from 14-17 inch tires. I see now what you were thinking.

 

[Kaido]

I read your post as it came with either 14s or 15s and wanted to go larger than that.. Next logical step up would be 17s or 18s and the price per tire shoots up tremendously for decent tires going from 14-17 inch tires. I see now what you were thinking.

Ah, yeah - 14" on there now, 15" is desired. Fill out the wheel well. About $500 mounted for the tire/rim combo from Tiretrack.com up to $1000 with tires depending on what I go with. I have to get new tires one way or the other this week (fronts are bald, rear left has a nail in it), so I can either go cheap and use stock or get something a tad nicer. No desire to go past a non-OEM size, so it's nice that there's a 15" option. There are some 1.3" lowering springs available for cheap (not that I'd want a lowered car, just something a bit better handling, but I'll see if the new struts help enough), but I'll see how the car looks with the larger tires/rims on it first.

I'm debating doing one of those $50 Rustoleum paintjobs like this guy:

http://www.rickwrench.com/index79master.htm?http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html

I do have my airbrushing equipment & an HVLP gun, but I'd like to try something new, especially since this is a beater. Originally I wanted to do the liquid vinyl wrap, but from the few user reviews I've seen, it appears to come off pretty easily, so rather than spending $400 on that to cover the car, I can just use some gloss black No-Rust with a roller & go that route for much cheaper instead.

 

[Kaido]

Oh snap! Just discovered ALLDATA manuals online:

http://www.alldatadiy.com/

Found a coupon on Retailmenot and got a year's subscription to the ZX2 for $15.90, whoohoo! I have some reading to do :awe: